They lost because the goofiest player on the court, Ron Artest, grabbed the offensive rebound and scored at the buzzer. They lost because Richardson forgot to box out, completing one of his worst games of the postseason.

"It was a great moment," Lakers guard Derek Fisher said.

Ugh.

"Plays like that are the difference between championship teams and really good teams," Gentry said.

Dreams come big in this town. Within 24 hours on the same city block, a new American Idol was crowned across the street; Clippers fans staged a rally for LeBron James, hoping to coax the megastar to their woebegone franchise; and the Suns attempted to shock the basketball world.

They nearly succeeded. Now, their next loss to the Lakers will be their last.

When the game was over, Nash provided great leadership. He stood up in the locker room and told his teammates to flush the bad memories and the what ifs. Maybe it will be easy. Maybe the Suns intuitively understand they had no business winning this game.

But then Nash did something very uncharacteristic. He guaranteed a victory in Game 6, and a return to Los Angeles on Memorial Day. Maybe the comment was calculated. Maybe it was made in the throes of heartbreak. Either way, the words are destined to end up on the Lakers' bulletin board.

"You know, everything is OK," Nash said. "We came back obviously with a great effort. Maybe we deserved this game, maybe we didn't. And we lost. And they held home court. We'll go back and do the same, and we'll come back here for Game 7."

Yet for all the determination that accompanied the late rally and postgame comments, the Suns also are stuck with the knowledge that Game 5 could've been theirs had they not lacked the required aggressiveness and effort.

After getting back in the series, there was reason to believe that Game 5 might be different from the previous two losses in Los Angeles. The Suns had recovered their swagger and seemed to hold the antidote to Jackson's vaunted triangle offense.

Back in 1999, Colangelo led a committee to get the NBA out of the muck. At the time, television ratings and attendance were beginning to plummet. League scoring had dipped to 91 points per game, a level not seen since the advent of the 24-second shot clock in 1954.

Under Colangelo's guidance, serious changes were implemented before the 2001 season, and teams were free to play zone defense, ultimately giving the Suns the tool they needed to get back in this series.

Now, they are back on their heels. The Suns missed nine free throws, and a wonderful opportunity. They yielded 19 offensive rebounds, including one they'll never forget. Robin Lopez was held scoreless, the kind of statistical line the Suns could tolerate when Jarron Collins was the starting center. And in the end, they still hadn't shown the ability to win in Los Angeles.